IUPUI (8-7, 0-2) at UIC (7-8. 1-1)
Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 - 6:00 p.m. CST (7 Eastern)
Live Video:	ESPNU
Live Stats:	Click Here
Series:	UIC leads 5-0
Last Meeting:	Jan. 27, 2018
Game Notes:	Click Here

CHICAGO - The IUPUI basketball team will cap a stretch of five straight games away from home on Friday night (Jan. 4) when the Jaguars face UIC (7-8, 1-1 HL) in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU at 7:00 p.m. (6 Central). Head coach Jason Gardner's team looks to snap a four-game skid as the road has continued to be unkind to the Jaguars this season. IUPUI (8-7, 0-2 HL) dropped a 72-64 nailbiter at Wright State last Sunday in a game in which they rallied from 14 down in the second half before fading late. 

After opening 8-3 to start the season, IUPUI has struggled on the road with consecutive losses at Purdue Fort Wayne, Morehead State and Northern Kentucky and WSU to start league play. Junior Camron Justice has continued his offensive prowess, ranking among the nation's elite at just more than 20 points per game. The supporting cast is keyed by Jaylen Minnett (10.9 ppg), Evan Hall (9.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Elyjah Goss (7.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg), Grant Weatherford (7.5 ppg) and Ahmed Ismail (7.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg). IUPUI has been superb offensively as the season nears the midpoint, having averaged 78.3 points per game and shooting 46 percent from the floor. More impressive has been the Jaguars' ability to get to the foul line as IUPUI ranks among the nation's top 15 in free throws made (247) and attempted (351). 

Friday's game caps a three-game road stretch to open Horizon League play, with all three contests coming against top-3 picks according to the league's preseason polls. 

QUOTABLE: "I thought we played really hard today and played really gutsy basketball. We're not in the moral victory business, so I'm not happy about not getting a win on this road trip. However, I thought we got better today and played the reigning league champs really tough on their home floor. We had a lot of sick guys and some guys were asking to come out because they just didn't feel well out there, but we fought them right down to the final horn," Gardner said after Sunday's loss at Wright State. 

UP NEXT: IUPUI will return home to host Cleveland State on Thursday night (Jan. 10) at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on ESPN3. In addition, that game will be Back 2 School Night and IUPUI Dean's Night and the Indy Air Bears will perform at halftime. Tickets are available via TicketMaster or by calling the IUPUI Ticket Office at 317-278-2530.

QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Friday's game): 
    LOSING SKID HITS FOUR AT WRIGHT STATE
    The IUPUI basketball team had a big second half comeback fall short at Wright State last Sunday (Dec. 30) as the Jags rallied from 14 down to tie the score before ultimately falling, 72-64. The Jags tied the game at 57 all with 5:41 remaining, but went cold offensively from there as the Raiders outscored IUPUI 15-7 from there, including a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line. 
    Bill Wampler paced Wright State with 22 points off the bench and Cole Gentry tossed in 20. Camron Justice had a team-high 17 points (5-15 FG, 0-7 3's, 7-9 FT) and was held without a made three for the first time this season. Senior Evan Hall added 13 points and center Ahmed Ismail contributed 10 points off the bench. 
    IUPUI helped shake off a 42 percent shooting night by outrebounding Wright State 38-28. D.J. McCall led the effort on the glass with eight boards while Elyjah Goss and Justice grabbed seven apiece. 
    Here are more notes from last Sunday's defeat.
    -IUPUI dropped to 1-6 in true road games this season with the lone victory coming at Boston College (76-69 on Nov. 14). 
    -Freshman Brandon Kenyon didn't dress last Sunday due to illness and several other Jaguars were slowed by stomach ailment. Head coach Jason Gardner opted to have his team skip the pregame shootaround, instead allowing the team extra rest in the team hotel. 
    -Justice's seven rebounds were a new career-high. 
    -Grant Weatherford played a career-high 35 minutes, finishing with seven points and three steals. 
    -Nick Rogers matched his season-high with 23 minutes off the bench, contributing eight points, three assists and two boards. 

    MILESTONES
    -Senior Evan Hall enters play needing three boards to become the 15th player in IUPUI history to grab 500 career rebounds. 
    -Nick Rogers dished out the 100th assist of his IUPUI career at Wright State last Sunday. 
    -Elyjah Goss grabbed his 200th rebound of his  two-year career at NKU last Friday.
    -Fifth-year senior D.J. McCall played his 2,500th career minute at NKU last Friday. 

    STREAKS
    Justice has scored in double-digits in 14 straight games.
    Minnett has made a three in 18 straight games, dating back to last season.
    McCall has started 42 straight games, dating back to last season.      

    A SKID OF FOUR
    IUPUI is amidst the team's first losing streak of the season, having dropped four straight coming into play. The Jaguars' defense has been the culprit as IUPUI has yielded 81.2 points per game in the four losses, including 92 at Northern Kentucky last Friday. Here are some more pivotal numbers from the current slide. 
    -IUPUI opponents are shooting a combined 49 percent (109-of-221) from the floor in the past four games while IUPUI is shooting just 40 percent (102-of-254) overall. More telling is that opponents have seven more field goals than the Jags, but done so with 33 fewer attempts. 
    -After being outrebounded just three times in the season's opening 11 games, IUPUI has been outrebounded in three of the four games. 
    -IUPUI, which ranks among the nation's leaders in both free throws made (247) and free throw attempts (351), ironically has been outscored at the foul line 78-61 during the four-game skid. 
    -Oddly, IUPUI has taken great care of the basketball during the three losses, averaging +3 in the turnover category in the four defeats. 
    -The Jaguars top two scorers - Justice and Minnett - are shooting a combined 40-of-112 (35.7%) from the floor and 17-of-64 (26.6%) from three during the past four games. 
    -Two starters - McCall and Goss - are combining to average just 8.3 points per game over the past four games. 

    HEAVY HITTERS
    IUPUI is amidst one of the toughest opening stretches in Horizon League history, taking on the top three picks in the league's preseason polls, all on the road to open league play. The trio of Wright State, Northern Kentucky and UIC collected 39 of the 40 possible first-place votes and easily separated from the second tier of selections. 
    The Jaguars dropped the first two of the three-game stretch, losing at Northern Kentucky and Wright State. 

    FREE MONEY
    IUPUI enters play ranked 11th in the country in free throws attempts (351) and 13th in free throws made (247). Junior Camron Justice is 20th in free throws made (75) and  47th in free throw attempts (86). Justice also ranks among the nation's top 50 in free throw percentage (87.2%). 
    Justice has done unprecedented damage at the free throw line already this season, boasting a pair of games with double-digit makes and no misses. He went 13-for-13 at Boston College, tying for the fourth most makes in a game in program history without a miss. He upped the ante against Bradley, hitting 15 without a miss, giving him the third highest total in school history without a miss (tops in the D1 era). 

    HE GO, WE GO - JUSTICE NOTES
    -In this instance, he being Camron Justice. IUPUI is 6-3 this season when Justice scores 20-or-better. Justice was recently the first IUPUI player to score 20-or-more in four straight games since Jan. 14-28, 2012 when Alex Young went for 27-27-26-22 in a four-game span.
    -The Kentucky-native has led IUPUI in scoring in 12 of 15 games after being held to just nine points in the season opener. In that game, he had just nine points before he was ejected midway through the first half for tripping an opponent, which was called a flagrant 1 foul.    

    GRANT PAYING DIVIDENDS
    After scoring in double-digits in just one of the first 10 games of the season, junior Grant Weatherford has scored in double-digits in three of the Jaguars' most recent five games. In addition, his distribution has been incredible of late as he has 22 assists in the Jaguars' past seven games against just three turnovers    

    CALL ME ISMAIL
    After a slow start to his IUPUI career, senior center Ahmed Ismail is now making his presence felt off the Jaguars' bench. Ismail scored just 10 points total in his first five IUPUI games, but is since averaging 10.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in the past 10 games while shooting 35-of-55 (64%) from the floor. 

    CLASS ACTS
    Nine Jaguars were named to the department's Academic Advisor's List for the fall semester for earning a 3.0 GPA or better - Daniel Alston, Elyjah Goss, Jack Hansen, Jamil Jackson, Trevor Johnson, Jakoby Kemp, Brandon Kenyon, D.J. McCall and Grant Weatherford. Hansen notched a perfect 4.0 GPA during the fall semester.  

    BEST START SINCE...
    The Jags' 8-3 start was the program's best start in head coach Jason Gardner's five seasons and best start since the 2009-10 season. That squad  finished 25-11 overall and earned a spot in the CBI that season. This marks the first time Gardner has had IUPUI above .500 beyond the fourth game of any of his five seasons.

    ROLLING ON DUBS
    IUPUI has points-rebounds double-doubles from three different players this season as Elyjah Goss, Evan Hall and Ahmed Ismail have all pulled the trick. For perspective, IUPUI hasn't had three different players get double-doubles in a season since 2013-14 when four different players registered at least one (Marcellus Barksdale, Donovan Gibbs, Khufu Najee & Mitch Patton).  

    BLOW OUT THE CANDLES
    Head coach Jason Gardner celebrated his 38th birthday in style, collecting his 50th career head coaching win at Boston College on November 14. The win was the Jaguars' first over an ACC opponent since 2001 and first over a Power 5 school since winning at Seton Hall in 2009. 
    Gardner is third on the program's all-time wins list at 56, but is a far cry from the top two in program history. Current Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter (275) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (195) own the top two spots in program history. 

    SHARING THE WEALTH
    IUPUI has had nine different players have hit for 10-or-more points at least once this season. Nick Rogers became the most recent player to tally double-digits, joining a group that includes Elyjah Goss, Evan Hall, Jack Hansen, Ahmed Ismail, Camron Justice, D.J. McCall, Jaylen Minnett and Grant Weatherford.   

    HOT BENCH
    A staple under head coach Jason Gardner has been his teams' bench scoring as the IUPUI leader likes to play 9-10 players and use his bench frequently. Gardner's teams have matched or outscored the opposition's bench in 104 of 140 games (74.3 percent), including 13 of 15 games this season. All total, the IUPUI bench is averaging 29 points per game this season and outscoring opponents' benches by nearly 11 points per game. The Jags' bench scored a season-high 66 points in the win over IU Northwest.